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Syncarpha Capital is a New York based private equity firm dedicated to developing, owning and operating commercial and utility scale photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems throughout the United States and Canada. Co-founded by Cliff Chapman and Richard Turnure, the firm was launched to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities in the alternative energy sector and to create a vehicle for investing in assets with long duration, excellent credit quality and high risk adjusted returns.

The Palmer Landfill Solar Project will generate net metering credits that deliver significant energy savings to the Town of Andover and long-term tax and lease revenue to the Town of Palmer

Palmer, Mass.—April 26, 2017—Syncarpha Capital LLC, Borrego Solar Systems Inc., and Renewable Energy Massachusetts LLC (REM) announced today the completion of a five megawatt (MW) solar array located on the Town of Palmer, Mass.’ capped landfill. The Palmer Landfill Solar Project will generate clean solar energy and net metering credits that deliver significant energy savings to the Town of Andover, while the Town of Palmer receives long-term lease payments and tax revenue. These funds will in turn be used to bolster the town’s operating budget and to fund programs that benefit the Town’s residents.

As with the Palmer Airfield project, Syncarpha Capital co-developed the Palmer Landfill project with REM and will own and operate the solar array for the life of the project. Borrego Solar designed, engineered and constructed the project, and will also provide ongoing operations and maintenance (O&M) services for both facilities. The three companies also collaborated on another solar farm in Palmer: a 6 MW installation on the privately-owned former brownfield site at Palmer Metropolitan Airfield.

Syncarpha Capital owns and operates eight Massachusetts solar projects, located in Palmer, Bolton, North Adams, Middleborough, Freetown and Leominster, and has developed more than 60 MW of solar capacity in the Commonwealth.

“We at Syncarpha Capital are very pleased to partner with the Towns of Palmer and Andover in this exciting energy project,” said Cliff Chapman, managing partner at Syncarpha Capital. “This project is creating tangible economic and environmental benefits for the towns involved and for Massachusetts. We continue to develop solar energy projects similar to this throughout Massachusetts and other states across the U.S., as well as seeking to acquire similar projects from other solar industry business partners.”

The Town of Andover, located approximately 90 miles northeast of Palmer, is purchasing most of the state net metering credits from the energy generated by the project through a Net Metering Credit Power Purchase and Sale Agreement with Syncarpha Capital. As a result, Andover is set to experience significant energy-cost savings over the life of the 20-year agreement.

“The reason Palmer deserves recognition for its energy initiatives is two-fold,” said Zak Farkes, Massachusetts project developer at Borrego Solar. “The Town is not only monetizing land that previously cost them money, it has also removed road blocks by instituting a large-scale solar zoning ordinance to allow for solar development in its boundaries so other energy users and landowners can benefit from solar. As a result, Palmer is bringing investment to the area and creating employment opportunities for its residents and those nearby.”

The Palmer Landfill Solar Project is a qualified brownfield/landfill project under the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources SREC II solar energy incentive program, which was specifically designed to incentivize and thereby increase solar development of solar on landfills and brownfields in the Commonwealth.

”We applaud the Towns of Palmer and Andover for their proactive, forward-thinking, and collaborative approach to our public/private partnership model,” said Bob Knowles, partner at REM. “I know that everyone who worked hard over the last several years on the Airfield and Landfill projects, a combined and impressive 11 MW of solar energy, is extremely proud to see them now generating clean renewable energy that benefit towns that are home to thousands residents. We all look forward to several decades of economic and environmental benefit to be realized by these side-by-side solar projects in Palmer.”

As a state-designated Green Community, Palmer has taken on numerous initiatives to reduce energy use and its carbon footprint, including improving energy efficiency at most of its municipal buildings and building a solar thermal facility at its waste water treatment plant. The Town also sources 100 percent of its energy for their municipal buildings from one of the other solar projects located in Palmer.

About Syncarpha Capital

Founded in 2009, Syncarpha Capital is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated to developing, acquiring, financing, owning and operating distributed- and utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar and other renewable energy systems across North America. Partnering with experienced developers, installers, engineers, and EPC contractors, and working closely with its customers, Syncarpha Capital designs and builds on-site solar systems for municipalities, utilities, and businesses – as well as developing community shared solar solutions for consumers and commercial customers. Syncarpha currently owns and operates over 90 MW of solar assets throughout the United States in 6 different states. To learn more about Syncarpha, please visit www.syncarpha.com.

About Borrego Solar

Established in 1980, Borrego Solar Systems Inc. is a leading engineer, developer, installer, financier and operator of commercial solar photovoltaic and energy storage systems in the United States with nearly 370 MW of installations constructed. Borrego Solar is a market leader nationally in addition to having the largest market share in Massachusetts and New York. The company’s mission is to solve the world's energy problems by accelerating the adoption of renewable energy. Its people are committed to excellence in every aspect of solar design, construction and operation. For more information, visit www.borregosolar.com.

About Renewable Energy Massachusetts LLC

Renewable Energy Massachusetts LLC (REM) is a Massachusetts-based solar energy development company founded in 2009 that has developed several large-scale operating solar projects in Massachusetts. REM has been an active participant in the Massachusetts DOER and DPU solar energy policy making process, and is currently developing megawatt-scale municipal and community shared solar energy projects across the Commonwealth. To learn more about REM please visit www.REMenergyCo.com.

SyncarphaCapital nears completion of its first Community Solar portfolio, providing net metering credits and monthly energy savings to more than 300 residents and businesses across Massachusetts.

SyncarphaCapitalwill own and operate four fully-subscribed community solar generation systems in Massachusetts, totaling 10 MW DC of generation capacity.

Bolton, Pittsfield, and Hancock (Massachusetts) —May 8, 2017— Syncarpha Capital LLC announced today that it is nearing full subscription of three photovoltaic-solar generation facilities in Pittsfield and Hancock, Massachusetts, totaling 7 MW DC. The facilities are expected to be operational in July 2017, and they will complete Syncarpha’s 10 MW DC Community Solar portfolio in Massachusetts. The portfolio’s first project, a 2.8 MW DC solar array located in Bolton, was placed in service in December 2016. Together, these arrays represent one of the largest combined residential & commercial community solar portfolios in Massachusetts.

“Building a complete end-to-end process around residential community solar from the perspectives of our customers, our marketers, and our investors took a lot of hard work, but that invaluable experience has placed us in prime position to be a leader going forward in this fast-growing segment of solar energy,” said Matt Preskenis, Vice President at Syncarpha. “We look forward to developing and acquiring many more community solar projects not just in Massachusetts, but in other burgeoning community solar markets such as New York, Minnesota, Maryland, and Illinois.”

The four projects in the portfolio were developed by Syncarpha, and while each began as an un- subscribed community solar array, Syncarpha was successfully able to fully subscribe each project using a variety of retail customers. Syncarpha provided financing for the installation of the arrays, and will serve as the long-term owner and operator of the portfolio. The arrays provide clean, cost-efficient renewable energy to a wide mix of customers, including Joel O’Toole, a resident in Bolton. "I can't tell you how exciting it is to receive electronic notices regarding the savings on my electric bill,” Joel said, “I hope your other customers are as excited as I am because I think it is awesome."

Though in-house development and outside acquisitions, Syncarpha is aggressively seeking to expand its community solar development, financing, and ownership operations to other community solar markets throughout the United States.

About Syncarpha Capital, LLC

Founded in 2009, Syncarpha Capital is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated to developing, acquiring, financing, owning and operating distributed- and utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar and other renewable energy systems across North America. Partnering with experienced developers, installers, engineers, and EPC contractors, and working closely with its customers, Syncarpha Capital designs and builds on-site solar systems for municipalities, utilities, and businesses – as well as developing community shared solar solutions for consumers and commercial customers. Syncarpha currently owns and operates over 60 MW of solar assets throughout the United States in 6 different states. To learn more about Syncarpha, please visit www.syncarpha.com and to learn more about Syncarpha’s community solar offerings, please visit www.syncarpha.solar.

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PITTSFIELD — Construction of a community solar project is well underway to benefit Eversource customers throughout Western Massachusetts.

The three separate solar arrays being installed on the grounds of Hancock Shaker Village should be completed around Jan. 1 and hopefully operational early next year, according to Syncarpha Solar LLC.

The New York City-based firm, partnered with Renewable Energy Massachusetts, will have a 1-megawatt array on the Pittsfield-side of the living museum along Route 20 and two, 2-megawatt facilities in the town of Hancock.

Collectively, the solar energy generating system will feed the electricity produced into the Eversource power grid, and the three array ownership entities would be set up as Community Shared Solar facilities.

That means residents of the Berkshires who are Eversource customers can buy energy net-metering credits at a discount and realize energy savings, project officials have said.

"You can subscribe for net-metering credits before [the project] is up and running," said Matt Preskenis, Syncarpha's vice president of community solar.

Syncarpha's plan is to target residential customers of Eversource, and also municipalities or educational institutions to contract for the remaining credits.

Hancock Shaker Village also makes money off the project as the developers' facilities would provide lease income for the museum for up to a 30-year period.

"All [27 acres] of the leased land is outside the viewshed of the restored Shaker village," said acting board of trustees Chairman, Richard Seltzer in a statement. "This environmentally sound use of land is consistent with Shaker ideals and will contribute rents which will facilitate the educational mission of Hancock Shaker Village."

The developers plan to install at least a seven-foot fence around the arrays and properly screen the Pittsfield site with natural vegetation to minimize the visual impact to neighbors across Route 41.

Syncarpha views the Pittsfield/Hancock solar arrays in keeping with the museum's mission of sustainability.

"It really goes along with the value of the Shakers," said project developer Keith Akers.

Preskenis added, "The projects we get most excited about are the ones that work well and align with our customer's philosophy."

On the web ...

For information on the Hancock Shaker Village solar project, go to www.syncarpha.solar.

Syncarpha Capital (“Syncarpha”) has selected The Ryan Company, Inc. to build three Community Shared Solar photovoltaic facilities in Massachusetts, that will be located on a portion of the land owned by Hancock Shaker Village, a nonprofit organization, in the Town of Hancock and the City of Pittsfield in Berkshire County. The three solar facilities have been co-developed by Syncarpha and Renewable Energy Massachusetts LLC (“REM”). In the aggregate, the facilities will total 7 Megawatts and will be interconnected to the Eversource Energy – Western Massachusetts Electric Company (Eversource/WMECO) electrical distribution system. The three solar parcels leased by Syncarpha are not within the view shed of the authentic historic Shaker Village, and great care has been taken to select appropriate parcels that will not interfere with the historic ambience of the museum site or negatively impact the visitor experience.

“These Community Shared Solar facilities in Hancock and Pittsfield will enable Eversource/WMECO residential customers to obtain the benefit of long-term electricity savings and to support the development of local renewable energy without requiring either an up-front investment or having solar panels located on their roofs”, stated Matt Preskenis, Vice President of Community Solar Development at Syncarpha. “Up to 450 residential customers within Eversource/WMECO’s service territory can participate in this local solar energy project.”

September 19, 2016

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASS., Sept. 13, 2016 (VINEYARD GAZETTE) -- "Aiming to save money in the long run, the Martha’s Vineyard Airport commission voted last week to buy the bulk of the electricity for the Island airport from a New York private equity fund that develops solar power facilities.

Under the terms of the contract, the airport will buy power from Syncarpha Capital, produced by a solar power facility already completed in Freetown.

The airport will receive a tax credit for buying renewable energy, and then pays a portion of the tax credit to Syncarpha Capital. As a government organization, the airport can get a larger tax credit than the company would get as a private entity, commission chairman Myron Garfinkle explained.

He said the airport will realize $825,000 in profit from the deal over the 25-year term of the contract.

Airport commissioners were skeptical.

“They’re going to send us, in 25 years, $825,000 just for signing up and saying fine,” said commissioner Clarence (Trip) Barnes 3rd. “Why are they being so nice?”

Mr. Garfinkle said Syncarpha Capital will earn $3.7 million in tax credits, but would earn much less if it does not partner with a government organization.

“We agree to buy about 80 to 85 percent of the energy we’re using today, and we agree to buy it from them,” Mr. Garfinkle said. “Once Eversource gives us the credit for that, in the form of a check, we then give a check for less money to these people. These are the kind of deals, I don’t want to sound like a snake oil salesman, but they’re not growing on trees. These are good opportunities for us.”

Mr. Garfinkle said the airport’s current electricity costs are approximately $130,000 per year.

Also at the Sept. 8 commission meeting, Mr. Garfinkle said the airport’s new master plan will be ready for review by the Federal Aviation Administration next month, and will include an expansion of the airport business park.

“We’ll be increasing the business park’s available land by quite a bit,” Mr. Garfinkle said. “We’re already seeing a lot of activity, demand is starting to pick up considerably for business park facilities. We had quite a few people coming in looking for space.”

Assistant airport manager Geoff Freeman said construction of a new airport rescue and firefighting building gets under way on Sept. 19 with site work and equipment staging.

He said a temporary facility will be built to house fire trucks and snow removal equipment during construction. Aircraft operations will not be affected.

NEW YORK, March 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Syncarpha Capital and Pacolet Milliken are pleased to announce the addition of three solar projects, located in the towns of Leominster, North Adams and Palmer, to their jointly-owned solar portfolio. The grid-connected projects, all privately funded, are currently delivering 12 megawatts of clean, renewable energy.

"Not only are we assisting public sector customers in reducing their energy costs," stated Cliff Chapman, managing partner of Syncarpha Capital. "But, we've identified the overall environmental benefit of developing clean energy projects on remediated land. The site in North Adams was a former landfill and the location in Palmer was a brownfield site. We're putting Massachusetts land back to productive use."

The solar projects are part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "RE-powering America's Land" initiative. The initiative encourages the development of renewable energy on current and formerly contaminated lands such as landfills, brownfields and superfund sites.

"Our partnership with Syncarpha continues to see the successful deployment of renewable energy that will provide sustainable benefits for many years to come," said Ralph Walker, executive vice president of energy for Pacolet Milliken. "The addition of these three projects brings the solar portfolio in Massachusetts to eighteen megawatts, of which have all gone online within the last two years."

During the first year of operation, the projects are expected to generate enough energy to offset the annual electricity requirements of 1500 typical U.S. residences and should avoid the creation of 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The Towns of Leominster, North Adams and Palmer will purchase the energy at favorable rates over the next twenty years.

"There are positive impacts that this will have in North Adams – there are the economic benefits that we will see, certainly it will benefit our budget by reducing electric costs," stated Ross Vivori, chairman and principal assessor for the City of North Adams. "It is also a step forward in improving the environment and future for the generations to come."

About Pacolet MillikenPacolet Milliken Enterprises, Inc. is a private, family-owned investment company founded in 2007 by the shareholders of Milliken & Company with a forward-looking mission to secure and grow high-quality assets with enduring value in the energy and real estate markets. For more information, please visit www.pacoletmilliken.com.

About Syncarpha Capital New York based Syncarpha Capital is an investment company that is dedicated to developing and operating commercial and small utility distributed generation solar photovoltaic ("PV") projects in North America. The company is committed to the widespread adoption of solar energy by utilities, commercial and government electricity buyers. Syncarpha works with a variety of organizations to finance and build on-site solar systems that reduce energy costs and ensure a cleaner, greener future. For more information, please visit www.syncarpha.com.

The Palmer Airfield Solar Project is unique in that it is both the first and, at 6 MW, the largest Department of Energy Resources (DOER) qualified brownfield project under the Massachusetts SREC II solar energy incentive program. The DOER's predecessor program, SREC I, was successful in encouraging solar development in Massachusetts through 2013, however much of it occurred on greenfields. The DOER, with key stakeholders' input, pointed out that the program should incentivize more development of solar on landfills and brownfields. Thus the SREC II program was designed to promote the positive re-use of sites cleaned up under Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection supervision.

The Palmer Airfield project, which was cleaned up after 75 years of airfield operations dating back to the 1920s, is a perfect example of what SREC II was designed to achieve as far as siting large-scale solar at appropriate locations around the Commonwealth.

There are multiple entities directly benefitting from this project. The Town of Palmer, a designated Green Community, will be receiving real and personal property tax revenue of approximately $2 million over the 20 year project term. Three public entities – the Town of Leicester, the Town of Spencer, and Worcester State University, will together purchase all of the net metering credits from the energy generated by the project, which will result in millions of dollars in energy savings for these entities over the 20 year term of the energy agreements. Finally, the land owner, JenJill LLC of Wilbraham, Mass., which paid for its cleanup, will benefit from the long-term ground lease.

"The Palmer Airfield Solar Project provides an excellent example of the multiple benefits created by the fostering of renewable energy by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its implementation," said Cliff Chapman, managing partner at Syncarpha Capital. "Not only will multiple public sector entities benefit financially and directly from this project, but, in addition, underutilized remediated brownfield land will now be used to provide positive environmental impact. Syncarpha and our development team partners are proud to a part of this endeavor."

Borrego Solar—a leading developer, designer, installer and O &M provider of grid-tied solar energy systems—built the array and negotiated and finalized off-taker agreements with the Town of Leicester and the Town of Spencer.

"This project is an economic and environmental success for so many parties: it benefits the Airfield site owners, the Town of Palmer, the three energy off-takers, the project development partners, and the local contractors who built it," said Zak Farkes, project developer at Borrego Solar. "The economic impact alone is impressive, but also consider the fact that this project will offset more than 4,000 metric tons1 of carbon dioxide annually, and supply enough clean electricity for roughly 1,000 homes1. It's clear that beneficial projects like the Palmer Airfield need to be replicated throughout the Commonwealth."

Starting in March 2014, when REM first walked the site with the landowner, it anticipated a great re-use of a dormant site. REM, with assistance from Syncarpha Capital, gained site control and negotiated the lease with the landowner, performed all project development functions including permitting, initiated the National Grid interconnection process, cemented Worcester State University as a key energy off-taker, and secured the DOER's SREC II Brownfield Qualification designation for the site, the first such designation in Massachusetts.

"We are proud of what has been accomplished at the Airfield property and how much good has come out of this project," said Brian Kopperl, managing partner of REM. "National Grid in particular has been a pleasure to work with throughout this process, and their local customers will benefit from the grid and substation upgrades that were paid for by the project, thereby increasing grid reliability and providing clean solar energy to National Grid for the next 30 years that will help satisfy their obligations under the Green Communities Act of 2008."

Last summer, the board agreed to buy about 4 million kilowatt hours, or kWh, of solar power from Syncarpha Capital of New York. The energy is to be generated from 30 acres of solar panels on a capped landfill in Palmer, Mass.

With the opening of a 3.5 megawatt solar panel facility, North Adams now expects to be 100 percent solar powered. The thousands of panels supplementing the electricity for the municipal and school buildings reside on a capped landfill about a mile from the city center.

Today, the Leicester Board of Selectmen announce another effort in reducing the Town’s electricity costs, by entering into a solar power purchase agreement that covered all up-front costs with Syncarpha Capital. The Town has agreed to purchase approximately 1.2 megawatts of power from a solar array that is being developed by Syncarpha Capital and to be constructed in the Town of Palmer, Mass.

Syncarpha Capital and Pacolet Milliken are pleased to announce the completion of Fisher Road Solar, a jointly-owned six-megawatt (MW) solar project in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The facility is currently the second largest solar project in Massachusetts.

A three-megawatt (3 MW) solar installation built on a capped landfill in the town of Scituate, MA, received one of four 2014 “Photovoltaic Project of Distinction” awards from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA).

Syncarpha Capital has started construction of a 3 MW solar array on a capped landfill in Scituate, Massachusetts. When the project goes live in the fall of 2013, Scituate will become the first town in the state to be powered by 100% renewable energy.

Syncarpha took a major step forward on Oct. 25 when it received approval from the Planning Board. At the time, Richard Turnure, a principal in the firm, said the project would be “ready to go” as soon as new state legislation on solar power was codified by the state Board of Public Utilities

A bill was signed in Massachusetts that regulates and encourages solar energy. There are no regulations to set the tax formula for solar installations, allowing negotiations of deals that are most applicable to individual communities in the state. Syncarpha Capital is developing a solar project at Bolton Orchards. A financial guaranty is still progressing.

Syncarpha Capital is developing a solar farm at the Bolton
Orchards jointly with Renewable Energy Massachusetts, LLC. Syncarpha will
finance and own the 54 acre facility. In a recent public hearing, residents of
the community weighed in on the impacts of developing a solar farm.